"I'll give a hand as i am able." Saralyssa says as she follows the others inside as well.

Mairi opens her mouth, but cannot muster up any words. So, she just settles accepting Tyrus apology with a nod. As far as going back inside goes, she promptly raises her hands and shakes her head in a universal "Heck no!" reply to Briga's suggestion. "I'll be out here waiting if any do try to sneak out in far too obvious ways. But, do careful."

Briga nods, still heading in. “You did kind of get pulled into a bunch of crazy business just from bad luck of being there, I get that. You can probably forget my whole fated heroes thing from earlier. I couldn’t do anything to protect Sara, and I ran from that nimblewright like a coward. Beating up these were rats might help restore my pride a bit. But I want you all to be safe. Hang back and let the guards and me take the risk on ourselves.” She assumes the guards will agree with this, but doesn’t give them a chance not to, as she plunges in. “I’m hoooome!” 

If the guard are entering the tavern, Tyrus will definitely let them go first. However, he is not letting Briga go in without him. He will just not be as obvious and definitely be at the back trying to be unobserved for the moment.

[OOC: Stealth check: 7 ]

Saralyssa figures she owes these guys something for getting her out of that fight with the construct, so she is heading in to help.

Quote from phillberrie >>

If the guard are entering the tavern, Tyrus will definitely let them go first. However, he is not letting Briga go in without him. He will just not be as obvious and definitely be at the back trying to be unobserved for the moment.

[OOC: Stealth check: 7 ]

 Though Briga is not unskilled at stealth herself, and unencumbered by armor, she elects to be the more obvious target, giving Tyrus a knowing nod after her loud "greeting" to the were-rats within.  When the door opens they will be aware and expect intruders, but perhaps she can keep their focus on her, allowing Tyrus, Sara, and perhaps even Mairi, to act stealthily.  

Though the tavern is trashed, the wererats are gone.  The trapdoor is also open to the cellar, which the guards go to check out.  They then inform you that they have been building a tunnel that has gone to the sewers, marked by Xanathar Guild Territory, which means the Shard Shunners have probably run to Skullport in Undermountain, and therefore not in the juridstiction of the city anymore.  However, one days say, "we will take a look into Frewn's business practice, as he has also been reported to have joined the Innkeeper's Guild and Brewer's Guild in the last two weeks, so therefore any further issues with Frewn will need to be directed through them."

Tyrus surveys the damage done to the tavern and sighs. "Looks like our opening day was being something of a failure," he says, shaking his head ruefully.

He will then expend the majority of his remaining magic to heal himself using Healing Words at 2nd level ( 8 ) grab his weapons and armour and venture down into the cellar to look at the tunnel into the sewers the guards reported.

[DM, Assuming he isn't attacked, as a dwarvish artisan, does Tyrus have any idea how difficult it would be to close the tunnel?]

"We need to be closing that tunnel in some way," he says, reporting back to Briga. "Otherwise, those rat halflings and other things in the sewers will be just coming and going as they be pleasing."

"In the short term," he adds, "I suspect the only thing we can be doing is salvaging what we can from the cellar and then blocking the trapdoor down into it."

This he will then begin to do, hopefully with Briga's assistance.

[OOC: DM, Can we also have a short rest?]

Briga follows Tyrus' instructions, tireless applying her youthful energy and natural strength to the tasks associated with repairing the bar and securing the cellar.  She evidences clear frustration from the earlier disastrous encounter with the Nimblewright, and at one point interrupts the manual labor with an outburst of, "I just want something to hit!  We're losing left and right today.  The construct suspect got away, and was pretty much destroying me in that fight, Sara got seriously jacked up and almost died, Griff is missing, and our bar is a wreck. Not to mention the explosion, all those people hurt, or killed.  I'm, like, super furious about all of this."  

Upon hearing Briga venting her rage, Tyrus stops what he was doing and approaches her.

"Girl," he begins, his thoughts becoming clearer as he speaks, "I know you be wanting to hit something, but perhaps it's time we be thinking about calling it quits with this Abandoned Dragons lark and perhaps this tavern as well... Think about it. We've lost Arlon—a noble of this city—and Griffdar—a holy warrior... Now there's just you, a girl from the wastes, and me, a poor dwarven locksmith... Don't you be thinking that the gods might be trying to tell us something?"

"Let me have a look before you close that off..." Saralyssa says as they look at the tunnel. She moves into it a bit, looking for any rats or small creatures she can speak to.  If she finds any she would speak with it, making sure they know the tavern above is dangerous and not a good place to look for food.  She will ask any animals she finds to tell others the same thing, trying to make it clear that the tavern is bad, poisonous, and deadly to their kind. She then would return to the cellar and aid, however she can, in closing off the tunnel.

(using the Forest Gnome's ability to speak with small animals...)

Tyrus backs away and keeps a wary eye on Saralyssa when she starts squeaking like rat. [OOC: ;-) ]

Quote from DragonDenn >>

"Let me have a look before you close that off..." Saralyssa says as they look at the tunnel. She moves into it a bit, looking for any rats or small creatures she can speak to.  If she finds any she would speak with it, making sure they know the tavern above is dangerous and not a good place to look for food.  She will ask any animals she finds to tell others the same thing, trying to make it clear that the tavern is bad, poisonous, and deadly to their kind. She then would return to the cellar and aid, however she can, in closing off the tunnel.

 

(using the Forest Gnome's ability to speak with small animals...)

 “Thanks for sticking around to help us out after all this, Sara, you too, Mairi” Briga says, awkwardly shuffling her foot through the rubble. “I seriously freaked out when I thought you were dying back there, Sara. Probably not what you wanted to hear.”

She looks to Tyrus, and sighs deeply. “Earlier when I went all gung ho with that speech about the gods and heroes to Sara and Mairi, that feels like it was years ago. I really did almost end up talking two perfect strangers into getting themselves killed over something that they had no real stake in at all. Our business being targeted, the attack outside it - it’s all things we wanted answers to, and I just drug them along because I wanted the abandoned dragons to have a few more members.”

She kicks a rock hard against the wall, wincing as it nearly richocets into her, and curses a bit. “So maybe you’re right. Maybe I do need to listen to the gods, and common sense. You’re right. Youre a business guy, an artisan. I’m just a runaway from the frozen north trying to pretend to be a super urban Waterdavian. And we almost got a journalist and a scholar killed over our, well, MY, heroism fixation. Maybe it is stupid. Maybe we should just close up shop on the tavern, and the Abandoned Dragons. Argh, but it just ticks me off. Someone’s still going to get away with it, hurting all those people over some cloak and dagger bull s*** chasing some dumb hoarde of imbezzled coin that might not even exist!”

Briga takes a moment to realize she’s said too much, and revealed things their faction contacts had asked them to keep secret, in front of Sara and Mairi, and just hangs her head, shoulders slumped. “You can’t hero right, Briga. You sure as hells cant intrigue right. You can’t business right. Might as well stick with what works - running away.”

Tyrus gives Briga a moment and then says, "Don't be getting me wrong. I've sweated and bled for this here tavern, and I be loath to let it go. But we be needing to think clearly about what we do, not rush off in anger and be like to gets ourselves killed."

Having gotten his main message across, Tyrus continues, "From my point of view, there be two ways we can be proceeding from here. The first one be: we walk away. That be the way professionals stay ahead with games of chance; they know when to quit when their luck be all run out... And I will be up for doing that, if that be what you decide. I know I can't be doing this thing on my own."

"Second," he continues, "is that we be trying to get the numbers back in our favour so we be at least having a decent chance..." After a moment, he adds, "What be happening to Griffdar? What be happening to Arlon?"

He then turns to Mairi and Sarallyssa and says, "No offence be to you newcomers, but things started going down hill for us after those two disappeared and their spells and strength be sorely missed."

Turning back to Briga, he says, "I be thinking that we should be setting ourselves the task of finding out what happened to them two before we do anything else. In hindsight, I be thinking it be something we should have done when Arlon went missing."

"And you ladies with your skills could be a great help to us," he says turning back to Saralyssa and Mairi. "But I be thinking that we need to be making it worth your while somehow. So, what would that be taking?"

[OOC: The above makes some sense in character, but not much out of character because it was those two players who went missing rather than their characters. However, I'm wondering if the current characters went searching for them in game, whether Arlon and Griffdar could reappear as NPCs (or perhaps be played in character by one of the current players). And, even if we don't find them, it makes more sense for Tyrus and Briga to search for these missing friends than go off on some completely new track without resolving the mystery of their in-game disappearance. At the very least, it might clarify ownership of the tavern if we find their dead bodies.]

"Well, hopefully my talk with the little creatures down here did some good."  Saralyssa says as she comes back inside the tavern from the tunnel.  She listens to the two speaking then and nods her head in understanding.  "I've bled for whatever is going on here, so I am in, whatever else happens." She looks between the two.  "If there is anything you haven't told us yet, now would be a good time to fill us in..."

"Fair enough, lassie," Tyrus says to Saralyssa with a nod. "There be some things—private things—that be not your business, but I be happy to answer questions on other matters... As long as I have a drink to wet my tongue."

He then looks at what remains of the bar before saying, "This is supposed to be a place for drinking, let me see if they be leaving anything for us to be doing so."

Hopefully, Tyrus can find a bottle of something potent and something to sit upon, after which he will take a swig from the bottle and be willing to share it with anyone who wants to partake.

"Ask away..."

Quote Izraal1: Briga takes a moment to realize she’s said too much, and revealed things their faction contacts had asked them to keep secret, in front of Sara and Mairi, and just hangs her head, shoulders slumped

OOC: Well, you don't have to worry about Mairi unless you guys came back outside to talk. Because, as mentioned previously, she was not going back in there to fight wererats now that the guard was available. Part of the reason I haven't been posting anything yet. X) So, if I can get some clarification there, as I rather not suddenly have the character teleport into danger/conversations... again..

 Until the guards came out, Mairi had been content on trying to find a comfortable enough spot to sit and watch from what she deemed a safe distance. Though even once they did, she'd hesitate do more than keep an eye on the streets and rooftops for any other surprises. Something to settle her nerves after the brush with death.

“If we’re drinking we should all drink,” Briga says. “Could be our going out of business sale.” Realizing that Tyrus and Sara and present, but Mairi remained outside, she goes to search for Mairi to invite her in for drinks after a harrowing day. 

The tunnel can be relatively easily closed up - in fact it's not a very stable one to start with and would probably collapse in on its own after a few hours - it definitely appears to be a rushed job.  Mairi informs the rats she does find about the place, as they all nod and make their way to the tavern across the street.  

That's when your tavern recieves a guest that appears out of nowhere.  A dark skinned woman with curly hair, holding a staff that is completely black, with a eagle head engraved into the top of the staff.  Following behind her in a bright light of white is another woman, light skinned with glowing silver hair that is currently on fire, and dying down as the light leaves the tavern.  "So, your the ones who got attacked by the Nimblewright?" the woman with silver hair asks.

Anyone from Waterdeep instantly recognize both of these figures as probably two of the most famous figures of the city.  The woman with the staff is the current Blackstaff of Waterdeep - head of the Order of Magists and Protectors, and also leader of Force Gray - Vajra Safar.  Joining her is probaby the most powerful woman in the city.  At least on the face.  Laeral Silverhand, the current Open Lord of Waterdeep.  "If you've got two more drinks going, we'll take them," Vajra says with resignation.

(OOC: Mairi, the name on everyon'es lips it seems.)

Mairi accepted the invitation, if only for a more comfortable seat. She even pays for the drink, if it comes up, but doesn't do a whole lot of talking. Instead, she sometimes get a far off look in her eyes, seeming to just want to reflect on all that's happened over the course of a few hours. "Technically, it was these two and their frriiiee-..." Mairi, having been in the process of turning around after gesturing over to Briga and Sara, nearly drops her tankard at the sight of the duo.

"Your.. ah.. uhm.. wha.. uh.. wha-oh, uh..." She abandons an attempt at speaking to the two, and instead turns curtly to Tyrus and Briga, poorly whispering in her hurry. " Are you guys always this popular? Or did those spike our drinks?" She stared deeply into the remains of her drink, genuinely appearing to wonder.